It seems that a day doesn’t go by that isn’t a whole catalog of doom, gloom and worry; hurricanes, war, sinking financial markets and the unpredictable price of oil are prominent players among many. Lucky for us there is a presidential election right around the corner and the new president will save us – or will he?
In his book, “The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism,” Andrew Bacevich challenges the view of the “imperial presidency” and the president as the nation’s Savior. He writes (starting with John F. Kennedy in 1960), “the occupant of the White House has become a combination of demigod, father figure and, inevitably, the betrayer of inflated hopes. Pope. Pop star. Scold. Scapegoat. Crisis manager. Commander in Chief. Agenda settler. Moral philosopher. Interpreter of the nation’s charisma. Object of veneration. And the butt of jokes. All rolled into one.” Who can argue with that?
Bacevich also heaps scathing criticism on our popular notions of the usefulness of military force, our lack of personal sacrifice, party-oriented politics, foreign policy and what he calls the “de facto one-party state with the legislative branch permanently controlled by an incumbent’s party.”
An online friend whose political opinions happen to be opposite mine recommended the book to me. I have yet to read it through, but I did read extensive excerpts, reviews, analyses and the transcript of an interview with the author. First a perspective, if you have thin political skin or intolerance for ideas other than your own, you need to read this book more than most; no one is spared and that includes the American public. Of course, a thin skin will make it less likely that you’d be interested in the first place, most people do not like to be criticized.
From my research to date, I’d say that the author’s views on the relationship between the President and the American public are the most profound. In a Bill Moyers’ interview, Bacevich goes on to say, “because of this preoccupation with, fascination with, the presidency, the president has become what we have instead of genuine politics. Instead of genuine democracy…of course, as long as we have this expectation that the next president is going to fix things then, of course, that lifts all responsibility from (us) …”
Therein lies the crux of the problem, we want the president to save us – from ourselves.
With that in mind, I have some important recommendations for the new president whoever it is. Here are some things the president can do to help average American live a better life. First, don’t let people spend more money than they can afford and especially don’t let them abuse their credit cards; they cannot control themselves. Please make sure their kids do all their homework and don’t run around with gang-bangers; surely you have more influence on their kids than they do. Prevent people from reelecting members of Congress just because they “bring home the bacon.” As a politician, you know the amount of money a Congressman earmarks for the homefolks does not matter to the people who voted for them. All they want is their fair share, after that the money can go to someone else.
I know, those important things are not really the president’s job and we could do them if we actually tried, but we obviously don’t want to; therefore, the president has to do it all for us. The problem is that it’s only a partial list, a really ambitious president could do a lot more including preventing people from abusing alcohol and drugs or dumping garbage beside the road or dropping out of school or contracting HIV. On a personal note, I hope the new president can find time to lose some weight for me; I just haven’t been able to get it done.
Marty Richman is a Hollister resident. His column runs Fridays.
